We shot out of Rhode Island with a gusty N Wind behind us and headed for the elbow in the gulf stream.
The sea state was confused, with waves coming from multiple directions and winds gusting over 30 knt’s creating quite sporty conditions, so we sailed much or the first part of the journey on a heavily reefed jib. Sailing downwind only on the jib greatly reduces the apparent wind and enables the boat to sail deeper than if we also had the mainsail up – even with greatly reduced sail we were making speeds of up to 8 knots as we carefully surfed waves and tried to keep the boat at an angle where it was comfortable and not yawing too much.
Once we reached the gulf stream, we followed the WSW segment which added 3-4 knts to our speed, so we were averaging 10 knts or more. When we came out and headed SE, it gave us a slightly better broad reach angle as we headed for Bermuda. Suffice to say we made reasonable time to Bermuda, entering St Georges Harbor within 5 days of leaving Warwick.
The main lesson learned was that sailing downwind in strong winds is not necessarily fast or easy, as were always heavily reefed and had to make broad gybes to keep the wind and waves from being directly on our stern.
It was a sporty trip, with a great crew, who I think learned a lot!
